Our Financials

We are committed to following the best practices in financial accounting and disclosure for private U.S. foundations. We invite you to contact us if you have questions or suggestions for how we can improve upon the presentation of our finances or our approach to financial reporting.

Over the last five years, we average annual management expenses of $380,000, program expenses of $233,000, and grant expenses of $1,255,000.

Our Endowment

The JRS endowment is managed by a financial advisor to balance growth and risk in order to maintain the purchasing power of the endowment and meet distribution requirements. Our total unrestricted net assets at the end of 2017 was $46,570,000.

The JRS distribution ration for 2012-2016 was 5.14%.

Overview

The JRS endowment is approximately $46 million as of January 2018. Our goal is to spend about 5% of our endowment annually. We invite you to read our Investment Policy Statement.

Our 2016 grant commitments were $1.62 million. In 2017, we made new grants totaling $ 1.37 million. In the future, annual grant commitments are planned to average about $1.8 million. This may vary depending upon strategic decisions, and the impact of the economy on our endowment.

Total Annual Grant Awards ($ Millions)

Since our grantmaking began in 2007, we have invested greater than $18.1 million in biodiversity informatics projects. In 2016, we began making commitments according to our five-year foundation Strategy. Our goals is to achieve a stable level of grant commitments of about $1.8 million per year.

Glass Pockets

JRS is proud to join the Foundation Center’s Glasspockets initiative that champions philanthropic transparency in an online world. – See more at: http://glasspockets.org and the JRS Biodiversity Foundation Glasspockets Profile.

Divest Invest

JRS has joined over 125 other foundations who are divesting from the fossil fuel industries that deepen the climate crisis and are investing instead in climate solutions. Read more about our Social Investment Policy.

Carbon Offset

The JRS Biodiversity Foundation purchases certified carbon offsets from CarbonFund.org for the climate impact of our operations and travel by investment in the Russas Project.